Gargoyles and Other Exotic Creatures

In a previous post, I mentioned gargoyles of the old city hall clock tower. I was intrigued by their form and on a second visit, I tried to look for more. There is a total of twelve gargoyles around the building. Four on the clock tower, four on the west side and two each on the east and north sides. I have no idea why the architects thought that the building needed more protection from the south and west. A little googling told me that these grotesque looking creatures are actually called grotesques in architecture terms (not much imagination here, I must say).

As I mentioned earlier, in ancient and medieval times gargoyles were placed to ward off evil spirits and to divert rainwater away from the building walls. In modern architecture, these are used for aesthetic purposes only. So, these are basically good guys, tasked to protect the buildings. Although one protruding from the Clock Tower, feel down due to ravages of time and damaged the roof below in the 1930s. (But that can happen to the best of us, so I won’t hold that against them). The present ones were reinstalled in 2002.

The four on the western side over the Court House entrance are of two types, one with inward curled horns and small wings and the other one with outward curling horns and saber teeth. These are more elaborate than the rest and are in much better shape too.

The ones on the north and east side seem to be of older designs and much more weathered than the rest. All these gargoyles are certainly based on some mythical creatures but I have not been able to find exact names for these creatures so far.

Ontario Legislative building does not have any gargoyles per se but high above the front entrance, there are two watchful lions with pointy things ready to defend the building. There are also several grotesque faces carved in stone all around the building.

I spotted at least two Griffins and one lizard-like creature over the office of the Lieutenant Governor General but there might be more.

There is also a bear, an elk and a moose along with two lion faces carved in stone at the rear entrance. It seems that everyone is here for the defense (perhaps only our friendly neighborhood raccoon is missing). But this is, in fact, the Coat of arms of Ontario province with the Latin motto “Ut incepit Fidelis sic permanet” underneath. Which means “Loyal she began, loyal she remains” referring to the loyalist refugees from the American Revolution who settled in Ontario.

Coat of arms of Ontario - Wikipedia

Hotel Fairmont Royal York opposite to the Union Station in downtown also has a number of Griffens high up the facade. But these creatures are at such a height that it is difficult to notice them ordinarily.

Casa Loma has two similar statues placed on the top of the building, a unicorn and a lion with protective shields. That seems an awesome combination until you realize that these poor creatures failed miserably in their task. Perhaps they were waiting to defend a bolt from the high above but the actual strike against Sir Henry Pellatt came from a very different angle. His Niagara Falls hydroelectric station was expropriated by the government on the behest of Sir Adam Beck’s free hydropower to masses campaign. The same thing happened to his aircraft manufacturing business. City also increased Casa Loma’s property tax from $600 to $12,000 per year and Sir Henry was forced to auction his beloved house. Eventually, he died pennilessly.

It seems that every building and every statue is woven into a complex web of background stories. Just look a little harder and there are countless tales to tell.